Means for transmitting train-orders.



E. W. DEAN. MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING TRAIN ORDERS APPLIOATION FILED APR.26, 1913.

' Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 60.. WASHINGTON, D. C.

E. W. DEAN. MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING TRAIN ORDERS. APPLICATION FILED.APRLZG, 1913.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH Cu.,\vAsHlNaTON, u. c.

E. W. DEAN. MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING TRAIN ORDERS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26, 1913.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHBBTS-SHEET 3.

COLUMBIA PMNOOIAPH C0., WASHINIOTONI D. C.

UNITED ST as r ERNEST W. DEAN, 0F HARRINGTON, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF T0 WILLIAM T. BENNETT, OF LAUREL, DELAWARE.

MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING TRAIN-ORDERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

Application filed April 26, 1913. Serial No. 763,862.

the engineer, conductor or brakeman of a train without the necessity ofthe station messenger or tower-operator handling the orders to theengineer or other trainmen without materially reducing speed of thetrain.

A further object is to provide an order holder or carrier which may beturned into or out of operative position by means actuated at a distancefrom the holder itself, as for instance, by means actuated within thetower or station, thus obviating the necessity of the operator leavingthe tower or station in order to attend to the orders.

A still further object is to provide means for readily attaching anddetaching an order case from the support or holder and supporting suchcase in such position that it may be easily caught by the trainmen.

A further object is to provide means for indicating either night or daythe position of the arm supporting the order so that there will be nodanger of the trainman striking his hand or arm against the projectingorder support.

A still further object is to provide holder supporting arms so arrangedas to yield laterally upon impact thus preventing any danger or accidentoccurring by an operator striking against one of these arms.

Still another object is to provide a receiving basket disposed adjacentto the order holder or support and adapted to receive messages droppedfrom the moving train.

A still further object is the provision of a case adapted to be usedwith my device and adapted to be clipped upon a cord or like flexibleconnection, the clip having a peculiar form adapted to securely engagethe case with the cord.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my train order supporting mechanism,illustrated in conjunction with a tower, the tower being broken away inorder to show the means whereby the train order support is shifted intoor out of operative position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the trainorder support and the actuating mechanism. Fig. 3 is a plan view of theconstruction shown in Fig. 2. Fig. A is a detail perspective view of themanner in which the flexible connections are attached to the rotatableframe upon which the train order support is mounted. Fig. 5 is aperspective detail view of the standard carrying the train ordersupporting arms,

the standard being moved from engagement with the post. Fig. 6 is aperspective detail view of one of the cases in which the train ordersare carried.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawingby the same reference characters.

Referring now to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A designates a switch-operatingtower, station, or like structure, and B the track passing the station.Disposed alongside of the track is a platform 2 of any suitableconstruction and shown as having steps 3 leading up to it. Rigidlymounted upon the upper face of the platform is an upwardly eX tendingpost 4 having hinge members 5 and 6 attached to it and extending outtherefrom. Supported upon these hinge members is a rotatable framecomposed of a post 7, a relatively short vertical brace 8 having at theupper end the brace 9 and extending to the post 7, and the brace 10which is attached to the lower end of the brace 8 eX- tends beneath thepost 7 and projects out beyond the same. This brace or arm 10 isprovided with a socket for the reception of a standard 11. The verticalmember 8 is provided with hinge elements in the form of leaves 12 whichco-act with the hinge elements 5 and 6, and pivoting these elementstogether is the pintle 13. The upper end of the post 7 is provided withthe signal vane 14 which is preferably painted red, and also carriedupon the post 7 and directly in line with the signal vane is a lamphousing 15, wherein an ordinary red signal lamp may be placed. Thishousing is supported by means of a bracket 16 or in any other suitablemanner to the post 7.

The standard 11 is illustrated in detail in Fig. 5. At its lower end thestandard is many sided and tapering so that it may be inserted in thesocket 17 formed in the brace 10, or supporting arm. The lower end ofthe standard 11 is notched as at 18 and pivoted to the under side of thesupporting arm or brace 10 is a latch 19 which projects out beyond thearm or brace 10 and is adapted to be turned into and out of engagementwith the notch 18. Preferably a guide 20 is attached to the extremity ofthe supporting arm 10 and extends down and beneath the latch 19.

The rear face of the standard 11 intermediate its ends and just belowthe lamp 15, is provided with a bowed strip 21, this strip being formedwith a keyhole slot, as illustrated in Fig. 5. The enlarged portion ofthe keyhole extends downward. Disposed upon the post 7 and projectingout therefrom is an angular latch 22 whose extremity is reduced and thenwidened so that the extremity can be slipped into the enlarged openingof the keyhole slot and so that this extremity will lock with the wallsof the keyhole slot when the standard 11 is pushed downward. It will beseen that by means of the latch 19 and the latch 22 the slot 11 is heldin a vertical position. but that these latches permit the standard to bereadily removed whenever desired.

Attached to the upper end of the standard are the ears 23. These earsare angular and extend upward and rearward and pivoted between them isan arm 2 1, the rear end of the arm being relatively large. This arm iscleft at its end as at 25. Mounted upon the arm is a guide 26 formed ofa metal rod, the forward end of which is upwardly and then downwardlybent to form a hump 27, The rear end of this rod is downwardly bent andextends through the rear end of the arm 24: and is then inwardly bent asat 28 to form a limiting stop.

Projecting from the face of the standard 11 is an arm 29. Preferablythis arm is pivotally mounted upon the standard for movement in ahorizontal plane. As illustrated, the arm is supported by means of angleirons 30 attached to the standard and through these angle irons andthrough the rear end of the arm passes a pintle 31. This permits the armto have movement in a horizontal plane and to resiliently resist thismovement I have provided the springs 32,.

located one on each side of the arms. These springs will permit the armto yield but will act to hold the arm in a position perpendicular to theface of the standard, 11.

Disposed immediately upon the upper end of the standard 11 and attachedto the outer face thereof is a cord-clip 33 composed of a plurality ofcoils of wire, these coils being resilient. Disposed upon thestandard'll above the arm 29 is another spring clip 34 constructed inthe same manner as the spring clip 33, and another spring clip 34 isdisposed on the extremity of the arm 29. In supporting an order caseupon the arm 24 a cord is passed over the notched end 25 of the arm andthe cord is inserted between two of the coils of the clip 33 and betweentwo of the coils of the clip 34 or 3 the cord being thus extended inwardin the form of a triangle or a square. Carried upon the cord is anothercase, as will belater described. The under side of the arm 29 is alsoprovided with a spring clip 35 composed of tightly coiled resilient wireand the front face of the standard 11 is provided with the spring-clips36 and 37 one disposed immediately beneath the butt end of the arm 29while the other is disposed above the lower end of the standard. Hereagain in order to support an order case a cord or other flexibleconnection is used which is in serted between the spring coils of theseveral clips.

Mounted upon the guide 26 is a counterweight 38 which is adapted to beshifted forward and backward upon the guide 26. When it is shiftedforward upon the guide it will cause the forward end of the arm 24 todescend and when it is shifted to the rear of the arm will cause therear end of the arm to descend. Projecting out from the side of the post7 is an arm 39 carrying the projecting ears 40 between which is pivotedthe arm 41 which extends for ward. Mounted upon the extremity of thisarm is a basket 42 adapted to receive messages, orders, etc., dropped bythe trainmen. A spring at as illustrated in Fig. 3 will hold the arm 41in its proper position but this spring will permit the arm to yield uponan impact in either direction. It will be seen that this basket-carryingarm is disposed in such position to the order supporting arms thatmessages may be readily dropped into the basket by the time that theorders are being taken off from the order-supporting arm, as will belater explained.

In order to provide means for turning the frame composed of the parts 8,9, 10, 7 and 11 from a position extending parallel to the track to aposition extending transverse to the track I provide within the tower orlike structure an actuating lever designated 45. This lever is shown aspivoted upon a bracket 16 mounted upon the floor of the tower and asbeing provided at its'lower end with oppositely projecting arms 47. Rods48 extend from these arms the rods being preferably provided withturn-buckles. To the lower ends of the rods are attached chains 49 whichextend under pulleys 50 and from these pulleys the chains 49 extend overpulleys 51 beneath the track B and around pulleys 52 mounted in anysuitable manner upon a support 53. The chains 49 then pass upward andover pulleys 54 mounted upon the front edge of the platform 2 and thenthe chains pass over the top face of the platform to pulleys 55. Herethe chains diverge, one of the chains passes around a pulley 56 and thenreturns upon itself and is attached to the end of a transverse bar 57,said bar being attached to the under face of the brace 10. The otherchain after passing around the pulleys 55 extends around the pulley 58and then back and is attached to the end of the arm 57. It will be notedthat both of the chains are crossed. By this construction a directactuation of the frame may be secured by shifting the lever 45 in onedirection or the other. When the lever is drawn into the position shownin Fig. 2 the order support will be shifted outward or into a positiontransverse to the track. When, however, the lever 45 is shifted outwardthe frame supporting the standard 11 will be rotated upon the pintle 13in a direction parallel to the track.

The means devised by me for supporting orders comprises a caseillustrated in Fig. 6 and designated 59. This case may be made of anysuitable material but is preferably of paraflined pasteboard, or likerelatively light material rendered water-proof 'to prevent any danger tothe orders. Preferably the case is cylindrical and closed at its ends bymeans of caps 60. Attached to the sides of the case are the clips 61.Each clip is composed of a strip of metal bent at one end into nearly acomplete circle to receive a cord 64. The other end of the clip is bentover to form a lip 62 which engages the free edge of the portion 63 ofthe clip which is bent over as before stated. The resilient lip 62bearing against the free end of the portion 63 will prevent any dangerof the clip becoming detached from the cord 64, and accidentallyremoved. Furthermore the clips will engage the cord with such strengthas to support the case in any desired position on the cord.

The operation'of my invention is as fol lows: In the usual handling oftrain orders the tower operator, station master, or other person,carries the order out to the train and hands the order to the engineerand often also, has to hand an order to the conductor or brakeman of thetrain, who is usually, if the train is a freight train in the caboose atthe rear end of the train. If it is a very long freight train it will beplain that considerable time will be wasted by the operator waiting forthe caboose to come along so that he can hand the order to the brakeman.W'ith my device the uppermost case which is designated 59 in Fig. 1 isintended to hold orders for the engineer while the lowermost case 59 isintended to hold the orders for the conductor, brakeman, etc. As thetrain passes the station the engineer puts his arm out and passes itthrough the loop formed by the flexible connection 61 and withdraws thecord from disengagement with the cord clips. As soon as the cord hasbeen disengaged the counterweight 38 will throw the arm 24 upward andout of the way, in the position shown in Fig. 5. The same operation isapplied to removing the case 59', only here the case is supported at alower level and is therefore convenient for the conductor or brakeman011 the caboose.

It is to be particularly pointed out that the arm 29 is supportedimmediately opposite the opening of the lamp housing so that at nightnot only will the engineer be warned by the fact that an order iswaiting for him but also the light will show the position of the arm 29so that the engineer Wlll know that he is to raise his arm somewhatabove the light in' order to engage the case 59 and the conductor orbrakeman will know that he must place his arm so that it will pass belowthe light and in position to engage the case 59*.

It will be obvious that once the orders are in position the toweroperator need only turn the supporting frame into a position transverseto the track in order to warn the engineer of the presence of the ordersand in order for the engineer to receive these orders. At the time theengineer or brakeman receives the orders it is an easy matter to dropmessages or other orders into the basket 42. These orders may be placedwithin the case 59, as previously described. The cases can be suspendedby means of the loop. In the natural course of events the case willstrike the basket 42 and will be readily dropped or be drawn from thetrainmans fingers.

By making the post 11 detachable from the standard 7 and from the base10, it is possible for the station master or tower operator to removethe post at any time and prevent the unauthorized use of the ordertransmitting mechanism so as to avoid intermeddling with the mechanismby mischievous persons.

It is to be noted that by arranging the cord holding device at theextremity of the standard and by having the cord holding clips extendingdownward along the post, the cord 61 is supported in the form of atriangle so as to form a triangular loop through which the trainman orengineer may readily pass his arm so as to detach the loop from theclips. There are no objects to catch this loop and prevent itsdetachment and therefore no danger of the trainman being hurt indetaching the order holder.

It is to be noted that the lever 45 moves over a rack and that alatching device is provided whereby the lever may be held in either ofits adjusted positions, thus locking the order supporting arm either ina position parallel to the frame or transverse thereto.

Hy invention is simple, effective and adds very much to the convenienceof operators.

lVhile I have illustrated the invention as applied to a single trackroad, it is obvious that it may be applied to a double track road, therebeing two sets of order supporting frames mounted in conjunction witheach track.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a mechanism for receiving train orders, a vertical standard heldfrom axial rotation, an order supporting arm pivotally mounted upon thestandard for movement in a horizontal plane, and resilient meansholdingthe order supporting arm in a normal position but permitting thearm to yield in a horizontal plane.

2. In a mechanism for receiving train orders, a standard held from axialrotation, an order supporting arm and mounted thereon, a receivingbasket, a pivoted arm supporting said basket and movable in a horizontalplane, and means for holding the said arm in a normally projectedposition but permitting the arm to yield horizontally.

In a train order receiving mechanism, a supporting frame pivoted formovement in a horizontal plane, means for rotatably shifting said frame.from a position parallel to a track to a position transverse to thetrack, means for looking said frame in either position, a verticalstandard supported. on the frame, an upper arm pivoted to the standardfor movement in a vertical plane, a lower arm pivoted to the standardfor movement in a horizontal plane, cord engaging clips mounted on thestandard beiow said arms, means on the ends of the arms for engaging acord, and order holders having flexible connections adapted to be engaged by said clips to thereby support an order holder in an inwardlyand downwardly inclined position.

at. In a train order receiving mechanism, a platform, a frame pivot-allysupported upon the platform for movement in a horizontal plane,mechanism for rotatably shifting said frame from a position parallel tothe track to a position transverse thereto, a detachable standardmounted on the frame, and pivoted order supporting devices mounted uponsaid standard.

5. In a train order receiving mechanism, aplatform supported beside atrack, a frame pivotally supported on said platform for movement in ahorizontal plane, train order supporting devices mounted on said frame,transversely extending arms on said frame, an actuating lever disposedacross the track, flexible connections attached to the actuating leverand to the frame, and pulley over which said flexible connections pass.

6. In a train order receiving device, a platform mounted beside a track,a frame pivotally mounted upon said platform for movement in ahorizontal plane, a vertical standard detachably mounted upon saidframe, order supporting arms on said standard, and means for rotatablyshifting the said frame from a position parallel to the track to aposition at right angles thereto. 7

7. In a train order receiving device, a platform mounted beside a track,a frame pivotally mounted on said platform for movement in a horizontalplane, means for rotatably shifting said frame from a position parallelto the track to a position at right angles thereto, a post forming partof the frame, a signal vane extending from said post, a signal lanternmounted upon said post, a vertical standard supported on the frame anddisposed adjacent to the lantern, and an order supporting arm mountedupon said standard in line with said lantern.

8. In a train order receiving mechanism, a platform mounted beside atrack,-a post extending upward from the platform, a frau'e pivotallymounted upon said platform for movement in a horizontal plane, the postforming part of said frame, a lower brace also forming a part of saidframe and extending up beyond the post and formed in its extremity witha socket, a standard having a lower end adapted to fit in said socket,means on said brace for locking the standard in said socket, means forlooking the standard to the post, and train order supporting armsmounted on the'standard.

9. In a mechanism for receiving train orders, a frame pivotally mountedfor movement in a horizontal plane and includ ing a vertically disposedpost and a brace extending out beyond the lower end of the post andformed with a socket, a detachable standard having a tapered lower endfitting in said socket and formed with a notch, a latch pivoted to thebrace and adapted to engage the notch, a bowed strip on the inhole slot,a tongue projecting out from the standard and formed with a notched headadapted to be inserted within the key-hole slotand to lock the upperportion of the standard and post, and a train order sup- 1 porting armmounted on the standard.

nerface of the standard formed with a key 10. In a mechanism forreceiving train orders, a platform mounted on one side of a track, aframe rotatably mounted upon the platform for movement in a horizontalplane, train order supporting arms carley guiding said flexibleconnections beneath the track and onto the platform, the pulleys on theplatforms over which the flexible connections pass, and flexibleconnections at their ends being attached to the opposite ends of thearms on the frame whereby to actuate the frame.

- 11. In a train order receiving mechanism, a frame pivoted for movementin a horizontal plane and disposed beside a track,- means for rotatablyshifting said frame into a position parallel to or transverse of thetrack, a standard carried by the frame, a train copies of this patentmay be obtained for order carrying arm pivoted at the upper end of thestandard, a shiftable weight carried upon the arm shiftable from aposition forward of the pivotal point to a position rearward of thepivotal point thereof, and cord engaging means on the arm and cordengaging means mounted on the standard in spaced relation and below saidarm.

12. The combination with a train order receiving mechanism including astandard and order supporting arms, of a case for containing orders, acord to which said case is attached, spring clips mounted upon said caseand embodying each a resilient loop surrounding the cord, and a tonguefolded over and adapted to engage the bill of said loop to hold itclosed.

In testimony whereof I afi'ix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ERNEST w. DEAN.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D. C.

